Main Picture: The International Challenger
Owners Association fly-in,
the one pictured was held at the Chateau Vaudreuil near Montreal,
draws more than 100 people - despite temperatures as low as -25C.

Left Insert: Ian Coristine routinely
flies in all types of weather.

Right Insert: The Challenger is the
perfect tool for surveying
prime real estate, in this case Jorstadt Castle, built with
the fortunes of the Singer sewing machine clan.

Soaring in silence like a bird. Hissing to a stop on the waters of
a remote lake. Blasting out of deep powder snow. Wandering wherever the
spirit beckons in loose formation with good friends. Exploring nature and
the scenery up close and personal in all four seasons on skis, amphibious
floats and wheels. These are the adventures I delight in.

I do all these things with a single airplane. My two-seat Challenger
is classified as an Advanced Ultralight in Canada, or as a Homebuilt in
the United States. It looks and is quite different from general aviation
airplanes and it is equally distinct from the "bugs in the teeth"
style of ultralights. While General Aviation airplanes have distanced themselves
from recreation by focusing instead on transportation, the Challenger is
totally focused on recreational flying where its versatility and flight
at the slower end of the flight envelope make it ideal.

Optimizing the four primary ingredients that govern the performance
of all airplanes - weight, power, lift and drag - the Challenger is extremely
light, yet through the use of aircraft materials, it is very strong. It
has a large area high-lift wing, lots of horsepower per pound and tandem
seating to reduce frontal area and drag.

The result of this blend of ingredients is an unusually wide speed
range (4:1 from stall to top speed), docility, great slow-speed handling
characteristics and strong STOL performance. These characteristics let
the Challenger take on a wide variety of tasks that would normally require
a collection of purpose-built airplanes.

My Challenger lets me get completely away from the beaten path and
the cumbersome regimentation and procedures of busy airports and crowded
airspace while giving me 12 months a year of flying. It has forever changed
the pleasure I get from each of the four seasons.

Winter

Winter is no longer synonymous with long, cold and boring. It is
instead my favorite time to fly. Rather than putting my plane away until
spring or tiptoeing carefully between plowed runways on wheels like many
have to, I put on the skis, flip on the heater and enjoy "go anywhere"
winter freedom. Runways are everywhere, almost literally anywhere white,
be it a snow-covered field or a frozen lake or river.

The Challenger's light footprint, high-lift wing and strong power-to-weight
ratio give it extreme takeoff performance which is further enhanced by
the dense winter air. This is especially important because it means the
plane doesn't get stuck in heavy or wet snow conditions, a common and sometimes
dangerous problem (the long, cold walk home) for conventional ski planes.

Flying the day after a fresh snowfall is particularly delightful.
The view of the countryside is like scenes from a Christmas card, with
a sparkling white blanket covering the ground and cloaking the trees. Landing
in fresh snow is like landing on a cushion of cotton and great for the
ego. It's difficult to tell exactly when the transition is made from flying
to taxiing.